House of Black
by emmajackson205
Summary: A pre-quel featuring the Black Family, mainly the Black sisters at this stage. Ted x Andromeda, Rodolphus x Bellatrix and Narcissa x Lucius. It starts just before the political upheaval before the first wizarding war and Voldemort is not yet on the scene. The Black sisters are at school and events are about to be occur that will change the wizarding world. Feedback is welcome :)
1. Chapter 1

"I don't understand!"

Narcissa Black slammed shut her arithmancy textbook and flung it across the library desk, "it makes no sense! No sense at all!"

Andromeda Black snorted, conveying her own amusement at her sister's dramatic outburst, "I honestly don't know why you picked it Cissy, it's such a load of codswallop."

"Yes, well you could have warned me!" hissed Narcissa as she collected her quill which as a result of her outburst had been knocked under the desk, "If I had known arithmancy was impossible I might have actually considered studying divination! At least Bella could have given me a hand with that."

"Hah! Bella give you a hand? I'd like to see that!" Andromeda raised her eyes at her sister, before returning her attention back to her own essay. Another two inches or so on the importance of powdered unicorn horn and her essay on the draught of peace would be done, and thank Salazar for that because potions was by far Andromeda's least favourite subject.

"I don't understand the point of this stupid subject at all! I mean when ever am I going to use it? It's possibly more pointless than Muggle Studies and that is saying something!" Narcissa huffed and glanced at the sun setting outside the library window, what she wouldn't give to be one of those students lying on the grass outside.

"You should have done care of magical creatures; I mean sure you have to deal with Professor Kettleburn and the occasional bite or scratch but overall it's pretty easy and you're always guaranteed to scrape at least a pass mark."

"You might enjoy battling the elements and dealing with foul, dirty and stupid critters Andie, but I certainly don't. Arithmancy might be completely ridiculous and confusing but at least it's taught in a classroom."

Andromeda snorted once more, "well then, don't complain to me about arithmancy, after all you did have other options."

Narcissa collected her quill and textbook and resigned herself once more to her own essay, it was due Monday morning and there was no way she was going to spend her entire weekend working on it; she was determined to finish it tonight even if it meant missing dinner and working straight through the night.

"You know, I think I remember Crescencia Crabbe telling mother that Marriner received an O in arithmancy for his OWLS last year, perhaps you could ask him to give you a hand?"

"Marriner Crabbe getting an O in anything is hard to believe, let alone arithmancy! Thanks anyway but even if Marriner was any good I think I'd prefer to struggle with it myself than spend an afternoon having him flirting and leering at me."

Andromeda laughed, Marriner's affection for Narcissa was well known within the Slytherin house, and it was often a cause of great embarrassment on Narcissa's behalf, "well it was just a suggestion, and I bet he would leap at the chance to help."

"I bet he would, which is exactly why I would never ask him. Thanks though, I guess if I get completely desperate it could be a ...option."

Andromeda laughed though before she could offer a witty reply, she was interrupted by a boy she recognised from her own year group... someone Tonks?

"Sorry, I don't mean to interrupt but do either of you have a spare quill? Mine just broke and I can't fix it and desperately need to finish this essay before 5."

Ted Tonks held up his broken quill as if indicating the desperation of his situation.

Narcissa, who'd never seen the boy before, looked him up and down, immediately recognising his prefect badge and Ravenclaw robes. If it wasn't for his untended to mop of fair hair he wouldn't be half bad but given she had never crossed paths with him before now she was sure he was definitely a half-blood, or maybe worse, muggle-born.

Andromeda, slightly taken back from the interruption, quickly regained herself, "I don't have another one, I'm sorry. But I'm almost done so I guess you could have mine once I'm finished."

Ted glanced around the almost bare library, he'd already asked most of the students already and the old cranky librarian Mrs Kincumberan had shooed him away when he'd asked her a second time to please check her desk drawers; he wasn't too fond at the thought of heading to the Ravenclaw tower on the other side of castle to sift through his trunk or search the castle for some friends so the option offered by the Slytherin girl was perhaps the best he had.

"That would be great. Thank you."

Andromeda nodded, "I only have another two inches to go, so I shouldn't be long."

Andromeda returned her attention to her textbook sifting through the pages and began copying word for word, Slughorn wasn't likely to care too much – he always favoured Slytherin students anyway or those who were in his slug club, luckily Andromeda was a member of both.

"What's your essay on?" asked Narcissa who welcomed the distraction Ted offered from her own work.

Ted who had turned on his heel to fetch his books with the intention to settle at a desk nearby stopped in his tracks, "Oh umm, it's on the magical properties related to the numbers 8 and 9 and how they have evolved since medieval times... it's for arithmancy."

Narcissa's ears perked up immediately, "You do arithmancy!?"

Ted smiled slightly, "Yeah I know, it's a bit nerdy but I kind of enjoy it."

Andromeda raised her eyes slightly at her sister with a knowing smile on her face, any moment now Narcissa would be turning on that famous charm that no man could resist.

Sure enough within seconds Narcissa had rearranged herself, instead of being slumped over her textbook she was now leaning gracefully against the wall, one hand wrapped across her lap the other outstretched on the desk, and her eyes focussed upon Ted, her head tipped slightly... "Oh no that's not what I meant at all. I do arithmancy as well; it's what I'm working on right now in fact, except I'm having a few difficulties."

"Oh?"

Sure enough Ted Tonks had fallen victim to Narcissa's infamous charms. Andromeda rolled her eyes, and focussed on the last couple of lines of her essay, she could tell what was going to happen here.

"Yeah I just... well it just doesn't seem to make much logical sense to me. I mean I know you have your own work to do but you don't think you could give me a hand do you?"

Ted glanced quickly at his watch, it was 10 past 4 already and he had to have his essay completed and handed to Professor Hardwicke by 5 on the dot. Surely though he could help the girl at the same time, "I could try."

"Excellent! Oh thank you so much!"

Narcissa motioned to a chair at a nearby desk, indicating him to pull it over and she flipped her textbook to the graph of numbers that had been troubling her for the past hour, "While Andie wraps up her essay perhaps you could tell me what in Merlin's name this is all about?"

Ted glanced at the page the girl was pointing to and smiled slightly, "Oh you're a third year then? This is basic stuff once you can wrap your head round the Nelthora formula... can I borrow your quill for just a moment?"

Narcissa handed Ted her quill, hoping this wasn't some kind of a ploy so he could run off and do his own essay but sure enough it wasn't and Ted began jotting a long mathematical equation above the graph in her textbook, "See this here? This is the Nelthora formula, in order to interpret the graph you have to divide all the numbers by the number aligned with their magical property and then apply that number you get from doing that to the Nelthora Formula, does that make sense?"

Narcissa stared at the page in front of her wondering how on earth she would ever have worked that out on her own, "sort of...so I take this number here and divide it by its magical property number and then use that in this formula here...?"

"Precisely" stated Ted, relieved that his babbling had actually made sense, "see here, take number 9 for example we know from Wenlock's theory on the magical property of numbers that 9's magical property number is 3 because it is divisible by 3, so you take 9 divide it by 3 which obviously gives you 3 and then substitute 3 into Nelthora's..."

"I'm done!"

Andromeda slammed shut her potions textbook and flicked her quill toward Ted, "there you go you can just pass it on to Narcissa when you're done with it."

Ted who had momentarily forgotten about his own essay looked slightly taken back though quickly remembering his own work lying abandoned on a desk nearby, leaped up, "Thank you, ummm Andie was it?"

Ted had seen the girl before, she had definitely been in his charms class as he had vivid memory of her being the first of his classmates to turn her goblet into an apple in second year, though despite this he had never spoken with her before nor paid her much attention.

"Andromeda", corrected Andromeda, Andie was a name used only by her close friends and family, "Andromeda Black", she said her last name with great emphasis partly out of habit, but also in an attempt to remind this boy of his place – though it was likely he was so ignorant he wouldn't even know what such a last name conveyed.

"Andromeda, sorry", replied Ted, clearly unfazed by the mention of her surname, "Thanks a lot, I really appreciate it."

Andromeda gathered her books and gave her sister one last glance, "It's fine. Tonks isn't it? Well, like I said just be sure to pass it on to my sister when you're done. I'll see you Narcissa."

Narcissa gave her sister a small wave as Andromeda turned to leave, "I'll catch you in the common room later."

Andromeda smiled to herself, she had no doubt Narcissa would be in the common room later, with Ted Tonks and his infinite arithmancy knowledge Narcissa's assignment would surely be finished before dinner. How typical, thought Andromeda, things always seemed to work out for Narcissa...


	2. Chapter 2

"Have you started that History of Magic essay yet?"

Rabastan Lestrange took a seat across from Andromeda, eyeing off the various dinner options lining the Slytherin table of the Great Hall.

"Which one?" asked Andromeda through a mouthful of food, "the one on the Giant Wars or the one on the aftermath of the second Goblin Rebellion?"

"The Giant Wars one, I had completely forgotten about it! Did you realise its due next Wednesday?"

Andromeda gulped down her food, and took another helping of Yorkshire pudding. Whilst Andromeda in no way disliked Rabastan, his continuous stress and conversations about assignments annoyed her to no end. He was by far one of the brightest in their year and yet he was always terrified he was on the brink of failing.

"I haven't even looked at it to be honest", replied Andromeda absently, as she doused her plate in gravy, "Besides we have all weekend and early next week to work on it."

Rabastan, who had piled his plate high with about every meat option on offer, raised his gaze to meet Andromeda's, "Andie! We have a potions paper due Monday, that astronomy chart due Tuesday, this essay for History of Magic on Wednesday and then I have a paper for divination due Friday, how are you not freaking out!?"

Andromeda shrugged, "We'll get it all done, we always do."

This seemed to calm Rabastan a little and he shoved a mouthful of spiced potato and baked turkey in his mouth, chewing it loud enough for the students at the nearby Hufflepuff table to hear.

Rabastan was one of Andromeda's closest friends but he was also the friend that annoyed her the most; he was beyond unbearable around exam times and Andromeda was definitely not looking forward to dealing with him come their OWL's in a few months. Rabastan and Andromeda had grown up together due to the close friendship of their mother's – well friendship as far as pureblood society would allow. Monsieur Lothair Lestrange had been the French ambassador to the British Ministry of Magic for the past nine years and he along, with his wife, Madame Diamanta Lestrange were descended from pure-blood French aristocracy, with both families having a rich political history. The Lestrange's connections and pure-blood status meant they were almost as well respected as the Black's when it came to British pureblood high society; their only downfall was of course that they were French, not British.

"Oh thank Salazar you're here!"

The silence was interrupted by Jeroma Yaxley as she slid into the seat next to Rabastan, "You will not believe this! Apparently that idiot cousin of yours Evan Rosier just dumped Bibiana; can you believe that? The poor thing is crying her eyes out in the dorm as we speak."

If Jeroma was trying to appear concerned or at all sympathetic to her friends plight her actions certainly betrayed her, snatching the nearby serving spoon from the clasp of a first year, Jeroma busily heaped a large serving of baked ham on her plate and smeared it with apple sauce before finally lashing her plate with the largest spoonful of beans Andromeda had ever seen.

"Oh that's awful" replied Rabastan, not even bothering to hide his sarcasm – he had strongly disliked Bibiana Goyle ever since she had criticised his Girding potion last year and told Marcella Blishwick along with every student in the school that he fancied Marcella, which may indeed have been true but certainly didn't need to be passed around like fiendfyre.

Andromeda smirked at Rabastan's indifference and then turned toward Jeroma, who was easily her closest friend besides Rabastan, "is she ok? Do you think we ought to go take her some dinner?"

"Yeah I guess that would be the friendly and supportive thing to do." Jeroma reached across the table and poured herself a full goblet of pumpkin juice, before stuffing another full mouthful of ham and beans into her mouth.

"Have you not eaten in month? What's with you?" asked Rabastan irritably, as he too poured himself some pumpkin juice.

"I've been stuck in the herbology greenhouses all day and missed lunch", hissed Jeroma through another full mouthful, "besides you can't talk, look at your plate!"

"At least I'm not consuming mine like some kind of troll."

"Excuse me!? What are you implying?"

The bickering between Rabastan and Jeroma was a constant occurrence, something Andromeda barely paid attention to anymore. Rabastan's dedication to his studies was in complete contrast to Jeroma's utter indifference to anything remotely academic and it was this factor that seemed to cause such tension between the pair.

Andromeda's thoughts and the bickering between her friends was interrupted by the arrival of her sister who took a seat next to her at the table, a wide smile etched upon her face.

"Why are you so happy?" asked Rabastan as he handed Narcissa a plate from the pile nearby.

"Because my arithmancy essay that I was sure was going to take me all weekend is done!"

"Ew arithmancy", Jeroma was another of those unfortunate students who had foolishly decided to take arithmancy as an OWL subject, "how did you manage to get it done so quickly?"

"Because she had someone do it for her" interjected Andromeda as she took the last mouthful on her plate.

"I did not!" replied Narcissa indignantly, "once Ted showed me the formula and then how to structure my essay I pretty much did it all on my own."

"Ted? As in that prefect from Ravenclaw?" asked Jeroma

Narcissa nodded, wary of the kind of reaction she might get - fraternising with any one in another house was always treated with great suspicion by Slytherins.

Sure enough Rabastan eyed Narcissa warily, "What were you doing talking to him? His family are all muggles you know."

"He just happened to be there while I was struggling with my essay. Andie can tell you, he pretty much volunteered himself to help, what was I meant to say?" Narcissa defended herself as she glared across the table at Rabastan, "Besides he is first in his year at arithmancy, and he might be a mudblood but he sure does know his stuff."

Narcissa knew her last comment about Ted's intelligence and talent in arithmancy would infuriate Rabastan, he hated the thought of having anyone be better than him in anything, let alone a mudblood.

"He is pretty smart, I'll give him that" replied Jeroma, who seemed not to have caught on to Narcissa's dig at Rabastan, "You better not make it a regular thing though or people might start to get the wrong idea."

Narcissa flicked her hand dismissively, "Of course not, what do you take me for? Some kind of blood traitor? I was just using him, that's all."

Jeroma seemed satisfied with Narcissa's response and quickly changed the topic back to Evan and Bibiana's break up – which was exactly the kind of gossip Narcissa lived for. Rabastan though seemed to have had enough and quickly rose from the table offering a hurried goodbye to Andromeda and Jeroma before scurrying off to the library where he was likely to spend his evening stressing over his Giant wars essay. Andromeda too was beginning to tire, she had been up since 6 due to her care of magical creatures homework that she had had to finish before class and she was now more than ready to return to the Slytherin quarters and go to bed. Tomorrow was likely to be another big day as well given that it was the first Hogsmeade trip of the year, and Andromeda – always practical – didn't want to sleepy for the walk down the hill tomorrow morning.

"I think I might go to bed, I'll catch you both later."

Andromeda collected all her books and her satchel, taking care to remind herself to slip past Slughorn's office on the way back and hand in her potions essay.

"Bye" replied both Narcissa and Jeroma in unison – both of them were far too involved in their gossip to pay Andromeda much attention.

Andromeda made her way out of the Great Hall and scuttled toward the hallway leading to the dungeons, though before she could make it past the grand staircase she was stopped in her tracks.

"Andromeda!"

Swinging around at the mention of her name, Andromeda spotted Ted Tonks along with a ravenclaw girl she recognised as Vivian MacDougal walking together down the staircase.

"I was hoping I would run into you. Here, I forgot to give it back to your sister. Thanks again."

Ted held out the quill Andromeda had lent him while Vivian looked on a little surprised.

"Oh", Andromeda had forgotten all about the quill and was slightly taken back by the surprise encounter. Readjusting the load of books she was carrying, Andromeda took the quill from Ted's outstretched arm and shoved it in the pocket of her robes.

"I definitely wouldn't have gotten it finished without it. So thanks a lot, I really appreciate it."

Ted smiled warmly at Andromeda much to the continued surprise of Vivian who was descended from a pureblood family herself, albeit not one as supremacist or pure as the Black's. Vivian knew though that this encounter was rare and inappropriate as far as the Black family was concerned and she eyed Andromeda with great suspicion.

"Oh... umm...that's ok..."

"Andromeda?"

Andromeda was cut off at the sound of her elder sister yelling her name across the entry hall. Bellatrix Black stood tall and proud, her long dark hair fell effortlessly down her back and her heavily lidded eyes scanned the scene before her with great interest.

"I'd better go", stated Andromeda to Ted and she quickly scurried across the entry way to join Bellatrix.

"What were you doing with him?" spat Bellatrix as she watched Ted and Vivian make their way into the dining hall.

"He was just returning my quill is all" replied Andromeda innocently, she expected such a response would not suffice for her older sister, but if Bella had any further questions to ask they were quickly forgotten at the appearance of Rodolphus Lestrange, and his fellow Slytherin prince's Benedict Bulstrode, Frank Goyle and Thaddeus Selwyn.

Rodolphus Lestrange had spotted Bellatrix almost immediately and within seconds he had launched his attack, "Hey Bella!" he yelled, his voice dripping in feigned concern, "mind your pretty little head won't you."

A half chewed carrot came soaring towards Bella's head, dodging any other that got in its way and landing dead centre on its victims forehead.

Seething with disgust and anger Bella raised her wand and pointed it toward Lestrange who was in stitches as he and his followers slowly made their way across the entry hall.

_"Locomotor Wibbly!" _Bellatrix's voice bellowed across the entry-hall and a few stray students quickly ducked as a shot of blue light emanated from Bella's wand heading directly for Rodolphus Lestrange. The jinx missed him by centimetres and before Bellatrix could strike with another Rodolphus had retaliated with his own.

"Oh come on Black! Surely you can do better than that! _Furnunculus!"_

The jinx came soaring toward Bellatrix, and Andromeda quickly jumped back, the last thing she wanted was to get struck by a stray pimple jinx. Bellatrix quickly deflected the jinx, and instead it hit a nearby vase causing it to crack and shatter.

_"Flipendo!"_

_"Tentaclifors!"_

_"Levicorpus!"_

A full blow duel had begun between Bella and Rodolphus and the students who had been in the entry-hall were now gathered on the perimeters of the staircase, along with Andromeda, Selwyn, Goyle and Benedict, all watching intently and dodging stray spells. Both Bella and Rodolphus seemed completely oblivious to anything but each other and certainly seemed to have no regard for the destruction they were causing to the entry-hall, vases, paintings and suits of armour were being hit by deflectors and curses alike and it wasn't too long before their makeshift duel was loudly interrupted.

"What is merlins name is going on here!?"

Professor McGonagall along with Professor Kettleburn and Professor Flitwick stood in the doorway to the Great Hall staring intently at the scene before them.

"Black! Lestrange! Explain yourselves!" Professor McGonagall had narrowed her eyes and was now glancing between Bellatrix and Rodolphus who both still had their wands raised.

"I umm... Bellatrix started it" responded Rodolphus indignantly, his chest puffed as he stared around at the small crowd that had gathered.

"I did not!" defended Bella as she stepped forward to plead her case, "Rodolphus charmed a carrot so that..."

"Detention the pair of you!" barked McGonagall as she stared around at the destruction in the entry-hall, "I'll see the two of you in my office immediately! The rest of you are to return to your dormitories at once!"

McGonagall turned on her heel as she beckoned Bellatrix and Rodolphus to join her. Professor Kettleburn quickly ushered Andromeda and her fellow students away, while Professor Flitwick set to work repairing the destruction that had befallen the entry hall. Andromeda quickly followed behind her fellow Slytherin's who were busy laughing at the whole scene.

"Did you see McGonagall's face?"

"Bellatrix and Rodolphus are dead."

"I'd be surprised if they both don't get an official warning from Dumbledore for that."

Andromeda sighed to herself she could just imagine the howler Bellatrix was going to receive in the morning once her parents had received yet another letter from the school.


	3. Chapter 3

"I'm thinking Honeydukes first and then maybe the Three Broomsticks?"

Narcissa had piled a heap of jam onto her freshly toasted bread and was evenly smearing it – she was obsessive when it came to her food, something that had always fascinated Andromeda.

"I don't know, I promised Bibiana and Jeroma that I would go to Tomes and Scrolls with them."

Narcissa scrunched up her nose at the mention of the Hogsmeade bookshop, if there was one thing Narcissa truly despised apart from tardiness, it was reading.

"Fine, I'll just make Liboria and Cinnia come with me", Narcissa motioned down the table to where two of her fellow third years Liboria Flint and Cinnia Nott sat, busily chattering away.

"Alright. Fine by me" stated Andromeda, she much favoured the thought of hanging out with Jeroma and Bibiana than Narcissa anyway, since whenever you were with Narcissa you did exactly and only what Narcissa wanted to do.

Narcissa glared at her sister, though before she could say anything more, a gruff, angry and tired Bellatrix collapsed in a heap beside her.

"Morning" stated Andromeda simply, "lovely day for a trip to Hogsmeade isn't it?"

Andromeda was teasing and she knew if she pushed it much further Bella was likely to lose it but she didn't care much, it was fun to rile Bella sometimes especially when Bella was the one without the upper hand.

"Oh shut it" sniped back Bella as she grabbed for a bowl of porridge, "I can't believe I have to spend my Saturday cleaning out the herbology greenhouses with that idiot Lestrange while the rest of you get to go prance around Hogsmeade!"

Narcissa raised her eyebrow, "well perhaps if you didn't lose your temper and act like a complete nutcase, you'd have been able to come."

Bellatrix ignored her youngest sister, which was not that unusual. When it came to personality and interests Bellatrix and Narcissa were as different as night and day and rarely, if ever saw eye to eye.

"Want us to bring you back anything?" asked Andromeda as she poured herself a glass of water, "some acid pops, a pumpkin fizz?"

"No it's fine" replied Bellatrix, "I asked Iris to bring me back a new cauldron. That's about all I really need."

Iris Rosier was a cousin to the Black sisters and older sister of Evan. While Evan was in fifth year with Andromeda, Iris was in seventh year with Bella, and was perhaps Bella's closest friend or at least one of the few people Bella deemed good enough to warrant her company.

"Did McGonagall write to mother and father?" inquired Narcissa, as she finally took a bite of her toast.

"Urgh, yes. She was sending it off this morning. I can just see mother reading, can't you?"

Bellatrix contorted her face so that is slightly resembled that of Druella Rosier Black, "Oh Cygnus! Whatever are we to do? I swear that girl is incorrigible!"

Andromeda laughed, however Narcissa found no amusement in Bella's mockery of their mother – Narcissa absolutely idolised Druella and could never understand why her sister's didn't seem to share the same adoration as her.

"I'm sure mother and Madame Lestrange will have some kind of lunch or dinner so they can discuss the entire incident" added Andromeda "and knowing father he will probably involve Aunt Walburga as well."

At the mention of her aunt Walburga, Bella shuddered, "Oh I can imagine she'll have something to say. Probably tell mother and father to bring me home immediately and have me married off to some old warlock who will keep me in line."

"That might actually do you some good", joked Narcissa through another mouthful of toast, "they should marry you off to old Mr Cornfoot."

Mr Cornfoot was a colleague of their father's who had once been the Head of the Goblin Liaison Office at the Ministry of Magic. The rumour was that he had once travelled to Mongolia to visit some Goblins there when he had encountered a bit of trouble with a Boggart; he had never been quite right since.

"Oh yuck!" Bellatrix scrunched up her face, "imagine waking up to that decrepit every morning. I think I'd rather spend a lifetime listening to Walburga and mother rant at me than deal with that."

Andromeda and Narcissa laughed and nodded in agreement. "I certainly wouldn't come and visit you", insisted Narcissa, "have you ever noticed he smells like cabbage? And you both know I cannot stand cabbage."

"Who smells like cabbage?" Rabastan Lestrange yawned as he took a seat beside Andromeda and gestured for a plate.

"Mr Cornfoot", replied Narcissa "wouldn't you agree?"

"Mr Cornfoot? I guess so, but why in Merlin's name are you talking about him?"

Rabastan had heaped a spoonful of berries on his plate and was now dishing himself some cinnamon yoghurt from the large bowl in the centre of the table, "Anyway Bella" he added before Narcissa could provide him with a further reply, "I heard about what happened between you and Rod."

While Bellatrix had always despised Rodolphus she didn't mind Rabastan who was far less arrogant than his older brother. While the two families had grown up together, Rodolphus and Bellatrix had never really gotten along. Rodolphus had always been a little too conceited and Bella, a little too stubborn for any kind of friendship between the two of them to flourish. Rabastan on the other hand, while he prided himself on his schoolwork and grades was nowhere near as egotistical as Rodolphus. Rabastan might have been a prefect and a stellar student but Rodolphus was the Slytherin Quidditch captain, Slytherin heartthrob and ring leader of the self named Slytherin Princes – he was definitely the most well known and popular of the two brothers.

"Rodolphus is a complete twat" stated Bella, as if that mere statement was explanation enough for what had happened last night.

"That I won't disagree with", replied Rabastan with a wry smile, "so you got detention today then? Anything else?"

"Banned from Hogsmeade visits for the entire year. Got deducted 20 house points and have to write McGonagall a three foot long essay on the importance of respecting school rules."

Rabastan, Andromeda and Narcissa all laughed.

"Did Rod get the same?"

"Oh, he is also has to write McGonagall an essay except his is on chivalry."

Rabastan almost spat out his yoghurt as he laughed, "Oh Salazar! Mother and Father are going to kill him."

"Well that would be nice if they did' replied Bellatrix through a mouthful of porridge.

Rabastan smirked at Bella, "So what's the plan for today then Andie? Three Broomsticks, maybe go to Honeydukes and Zonkos? The usual?"

"She's going with Bibiana and Jeroma to Tomes and Scrolls", Narcissa interjected before Andromeda could jump in.

"Oh?" Rabastan tried to sound indifferent but his tone clearly betrayed otherwise.

"You can come", insisted Andromeda, "We'll probably go to Honeydukes and Zonko's as well. Except Bibiana and Jeroma also want to go to Madam Puddifoots so they can spy on Evan."

"Oh that sounds like so much fun", Rabastan's voice was dripping in sarcasm, "maybe next time."

"Oh come on" insisted Andromeda, "I promise we won't spend long at Madam Puddifoots and Bibiana will probably be so upset she won't want to stay long in Hogsmeade at all."

"No really it's fine" replied Rabastan coldly as he dished himself some more berries, "I'm only going to go for the morning anyway, I want to get that history of magic essay finished before dinner."

"Ok suit yourself" replied Andromeda as she rose from the table, "I'm going to go find Jeroma and Bibi then. I'll see you all later."

Andromeda made her way toward the entry hall, quietly seething. She hated it whenever Rabastan became jealous like that. Just because he didn't particularly like Jeroma or Bibiana didn't mean she had to not like them either. It gave her an evil sort of satisfaction to think of Rabastan roaming around Hogsmeade by himself – served the jealous twat right.


	4. Chapter 4

"Oh Merlin have you seen what Alice Galloway is wearing?" Bibiana motioned to the corner of Madam Puddifoots where Alice Galloway and her boyfriend Frank Longbottom sat animatedly chatting to one another.

Frank and Alice were both in Gryffindor and in their seventh year. Frank was Headboy and Alice was a beater on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Andromeda had met Frank before at a number of British pureblood society events but his family were nowhere near as revered as her own; he had always seemed a nice kind of a boy, slightly daft at times but meant well. Alice on the other hand was a half-blood and had always given the appearance of being quite a tomboy, she was loud, chatty and well liked amongst pretty much everyone except for the Slytherins.

"Oh dear" tutted Jeroma underneath her breath, "Alice really should just stick to her Quidditch uniform, she can't pull off any other look."

While Jeroma was known to be a judgemental gossip, Andromeda couldn't help but agree – nothing in Alice's ensemble even slightly matched, and the attempt she had made to straighten out her mass of black curls was laughable. Frank though didn't seem to care a bit as he stared into her eyes, clearly captivated with the dramatic story she was retelling.

"Frank could do so much better" insisted Bibiana through a mouthful of Toffee Hot Chocolate.

Both Andromeda and Jeroma murmured in agreement, after all Frank was a nice enough kind of a guy, a pureblood, from a somewhat respectable family, heir to a comfortable fortune, and moderately good looking if you did something about his untamed brown hair. His only downfall from Andromeda's perspective was that he was a Gryffindor, but still in the scheme of things such a trait mattered very little at all.

The bell to Madam Puddifoots sounded and another young couple made their way in. Andromeda, Jeroma and Bibiana had been sitting in Madam Puddifoots for the past hour, desperately waiting for Evan Rosier and his rumoured new girlfriend Heloise Greengrass to arrive. Andromeda was beginning to a get a little frustrated with the sickly sweetness that permeated throughout Madam Puddifoots, "What about we go to Zonkos?"

Bibiana rolled her eyes as she took another sip, "I hate that place; it's full of third years."

"Honeydukes?"

"No thanks, that's usually more packed than Zonkos."

"Oh come on" insisted Andromeda as she made to leave, "We've been here for ages. And besides what are you going to do if Evan and Heloise do come here? Stare at them from across the room?"

Bibiana look most affronted at Andromeda's words, "Look Andie if you want to leave go, but I'm staying here."

Andromeda sighed as she grabbed her bag and jacket, "Fine, you coming Roma or you staying as well?"

Jeroma motioned to her half full cup of strawberry tea, "I'll stay and finish this. But I'll see you later."

Andromeda didn't bother bidding Jeroma a proper farewell and instead dropped a couple of coins on the table to cover her own tea and quickly made for the door, how she wished Rabastan had come, at least then she would have someone to go exploring Honeydukes and Zonkos with.

Andromeda made her way up the street, winter hadn't quite set in yet as it was only late October, but the winds definitely had a keen chill. Drawing her jacket close to her, Andromeda watched as hoards of students gathered towards the shrieking shack lookout just around the bend. She could hear the unmistakable shrieks and laughter of the Seventh year Slytherin twins Octavia and Hersilia Meliflua who were accompanied as usual by their idol, Lucius Malfoy. Andromeda rolled her eyes; if possible Lucius Malfoy was even more conceited that Rodolphus Lestrange. As Slytherin's Head Boy and with strong handsome features, and the single heir to the Malfoy fortune, Lucius was adored by almost every girl in the school. The only thing Lucius didn't have going for him was sporting prowess; something that Rodolphus and his fellow Slytherin Prince's took great joy in reminding him of. However, while Rodolphus and his cronies might be able to outperform Lucius, Lucius could definitely out smart and out charm the lot of them.

"Andromeda?"

Andromeda stopped dead in her tracks and she swung around to see who had said her name.

Ted Tonks stood only a metre a way, dressed in long brown pants, big black boots and large navy overcoat. Vivian stood next to him alongside another boy and girl who Andromeda recognised as fellow Ravenclaws watched Ted's exchange with slight surprise.

"Oh hello" replied Andromeda cautiously

"Where are you off to?" Ted walked closer toward Andromeda, with Vivian following closely behind.

"Oh, umm... I was going to meet my friend Rabastan in Honeydukes."

Andromeda's actual intention hadn't been to locate Rabastan at all but for some reason she didn't want to admit to Ted and his friends that she was alone.

"We were just there" replied Ted cheerily, "it's jam packed full. But I did manage to get myself the last of the cockroach clusters, want one?"

Ted held out a small packet of cockroach clusters and motioned for Andromeda to take one.

"Oh no, it's fine" replied Andromeda, slightly taken back by his friendliness, "not much of a fan."

"Well do you like acid pops? I got some of them too?"

"No no it's fine" replied Andromeda, "honestly I best get going, and I'm a little late as it is and ..."

"Come on Ted", Vivian was pulling slightly on Ted's jacket and motioning him toward where their other friends still stood.

"Ok ok" replied Ted as he gently battered Vivian's hand away, "I might catch you later Andromeda."

Andromeda didn't bother with a goodbye instead she turned on her heel and continued up the street. It was one thing for her to lend him her quill and him to return it but quite another for him to continue speak with her. Andromeda knew she shouldn't have let her compassionate side get the better of her yesterday after all he was a Ravenclaw and muggle born, but still, surely he would have been told by his little Ravenclaw friends that it was improper for someone like him to talk and try to befriend someone like her? Sighing loudly Andromeda took a sharp left and made her way toward honeydukes to buy her own pack of acid pops. A small droplet of water hit her squarely on the cheek and Andromeda exhaled loudly as she pulled on her hood from her jacket, perhaps she would call it an early day and head back to Hogwarts and do her schoolwork instead; the only thing worse than being stuck in Hogsmeade alone was being stuck alone in Hogsmeade in the rain.


	5. Chapter 5

Saturday nights after a trip to Hogsmeade, were always guaranteed to lead to a rowdy night in the Slytherin Common Room. Many students would choose to skip dinner and instead lie about the common room drinking butter beer and munching on candy and snacks from Honeydukes or the Magic Neep; sometimes a bunch of the older students – mainly Rodolphus and his prince's would manage to sneak in a bottle of rum or two or some gin stolen from the Hogs Head as well. On this particular night Benedict Bulstrode seemed to have procured two bottles of red-currant rum and a bottle of Bilshen's Firewhiskey and was keenly sharing them with Goyle, Selwyn, Lestrange, Crabbe and a precocious little second year named Sylvester Yaxley.

Andromeda and Rabastan were curled up in the corner of the common room close to one of the fireplaces slowly working away on their giant wars paper for History of Magic. Bibiana had been cold toward Andromeda ever since her return from Hogsmeade earlier this evening and so Andromeda had resigned herself to a night of home work with Rabastan for company instead. Narcissa had only recently returned, she, Liboria and Cinnia had been some of the last to leave Hogsmeade as they had spent hours hanging around the hair salon and trying on ridiculous outfits in Gladrag's Wizardswear; Narcissa was now hooting with laughter as she she sat on the floor near the main fire place sharing a packet of chocolate frogs with her friends. Andromeda scanned the room for her older sister, but Bellatrix had yet to return despite Rodolphus' appearance almost an hour ago.

"I wonder where she is?" commented Andromeda out loud, she was only four inches into her essay but she'd already had enough.

Rabastan, who had his head buried in his textbook, barely registered a word she'd said and instead murmured some feeble response.

Andromeda sighed and lay back into one of the cushions which had been discarded nearby. The heat from the open fire warmed her body and she sank deeper into the cushion, allowing herself to get lost in her thoughts. Students from other houses, upon hearing that the Slytherin Common Room was in the dungeons often commented that it must be cold, dark and damp down there but it was indeed quite the opposite. The Slytherin Common Room might be grand and imposing but it was still warm and welcoming; from the narrow passageway entrance, the Slytherin dungeon opened into a large sunken lounge area which featured a huge permanently lit fireplace surrounded by emerald rugs, and low-backed dark green and black leather sofas. Mahogany desks, bookshelves, lamps and cupboards were littered throughout the room and two other small mantle fireplaces were located by the entrance to both the girl and boy's dormitory passageways. A medieval candelabra chandelier hung from the dungeon roof, while portraits of famous Slytherins long passed adorned the stone walls. The Slytherin Serpent was imposed upon almost every piece of furniture and two large serpent wall tapestries hung by the main fire on either side, a grand clock with serpent hands also hung supreme over the fireplace. To Andromeda, there was no place that felt more like home than the Slytherin common room; she may have spent much of her childhood moving between Grimmauld Place and 'Black Manor' in the Nottingham countryside, but it was here in the Slytherin Dungeons that she truly felt she belonged. The chatter and laughter of her fellow housemates echoed off the stone walls and Andromeda smiled widely to herself; if only she could bottle this moment ...

"Your brother is the most insufferable pain in the arse that has ever existed!"

Andromeda had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed Bella's entrance, Rabastan too had been immersed in his textbook and only looked up when Bellatrix groaned loudly.

"What was that?" asked Rabastan, as he gently put down his textbook, being careful not to lose his page.

"I said your brother is the most insufferable pain in the arse that has ever existed!" Bellatrix glared over toward Rodolphus as she repeated her words, he was too busy laughing at Benedict and Selwyn's drunken antics to notice Bella's stare.

"I take it detention wasn't much fun?" Andromeda moved from her couch cushion and instead propped herself up against the wall.

"Rodolphus thought it would be fun to put a sticking jinx on some slugs and then throw them at me."

"Yuck" replied Andromeda; her dislike for slugs was well known.

"I got him back though" announced Bella proudly as she took a seat on the ground, warming her hands by the fire, "I squirted him with some bubotuber pus, see those red rashes on his arm?"

Bellatrix pointed to Rodolphus who was now standing on a lounge chair by the main fireplace drunkenly reciting the sorting hat song; sure enough along both his arms there were blotches of red boils and rashes.

"Professor Sprout caught me though. So Lestrange got off early to go to the hospital wing and Sprout made me stay behind and clean up Greenhouse Three by myself."

Both Andromeda and Rabastan snorted, clearly communicating their amusement at both Bella's plan backfiring and Lestrange's injury.

"It was totally worth it though" continued Bella, a firm smirk etched upon her face, "if only you'd heard the stupid git... _Ouch! Miss it hurts! Oh Miss it stings!"_

Bella's imitation of Rodolphus sounded absolutely nothing like him but that didn't stop both Andromeda and Rabastan laughing at the thought of Rodolphus whining to Professor Sprout.

"So how was Hogsmeade?" inquired Bella, as she leant forward to knick some liquorice wands from a packet Andromeda and Rabastan had been slowly making their way through, "anything exciting happen?"

"No" replied both Rabastan and Andromeda in unison.

"Well that's no fun" responded Bella, stuffing the handful of wands into her mouth "What are the two of you working on anyway?"

"History of magic" replied Andromeda, "it's an essay on the giant wars."

Bella leaned toward her companions, studying both their papers closely, "Oh yeah, I remember this stuff" she muttered through her mouthful of liquorice.

"Didn't you get an O for History of Magic?" asked Andromeda; Bellatrix had surprised most of the Black family by achieving some excellent OWL results – for someone who appeared to study very little and skip class regularly Bellatrix had done very well indeed.

"Yeah, and for Defence against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Charms and Divination" said Bella as if reciting a well rehearsed line. Bellatrix continued to intently scan through Rabastan's paper, "see here where you wrote that the Battle of Evernaught marked the first time that all the European Giant Tribes had fought alongside each other for a single cause?"

Rabastan eyed Bellatrix suspiciously as he nodded slowly.

"Well that's not actually correct."

"Huh?" question Rabastan, clearly confused.

"In 1706 Frindan the Frecious led a united European giant army into battle against a whole heap of Swedish and Russian warlocks who were trying to impose strict sanctions on the use of European land by giant tribes."

Rabastan looked most affronted and indeed shocked at Bella's words. Andromeda too was surprised by her sister's knowledge, "Oh and Andie you spelt Dreggelmouth wrong – there are two g's."

Andromeda turned to stare at her own paper, examining it closely; it was not often, or ever that Bella really offered any advice or assistance, so Andromeda wasn't convinced her sister's intention were genuinely meant in good faith, she could have easily been messing around for her own entertainment – as that was definitely something Bellatrix was more likely to do. However, before Andromeda could ask her sister anything further Bella leapt up from the floor, "Anyway, I think I'll go shower, I smell like slugs, and then I might see if I can find Iris anywhere, and make sure she bought that cauldron for me..."

Without waiting for a response from either Rabastan or Andromeda, Bella made her way toward the corridor leading to the girl's dormitory and disappeared further into the Slytherin dungeon.

Rabastan was hurriedly flipping through his textbook scanning for any mention of Frindan the Frecious.

"How did she know that?" he muttered aloud as he stumbled across an entry titled _"The Involvement of the Giants in the Great Northern War." _

Rabastan slammed his textbook shut and immediately began scribbling and crossing out a whole heap of his parchment, "I'm going to have to start all over again" he announced irritably, though Andromeda could barely understand why, surely all he needed to do was rearrange a few words? – if it had been her she'd barely even have worried about it, but typically with Rabastan when it came to his schoolwork it had to be perfect.

"She was right about Dreggelmouth by the way" insisted Rabastan in that know-it-all arrogant voice he so often sported round exam time, "it definitely has two g's."

Andromeda rolled her eyes as she scribbled in an extra g above Dreggelmouth's name – what did it even really matter?

Both Rabastan and Andromeda continued to work away in silence for the next hour or so. If Andromeda had had it her way they'd have given up and retired to a game of chess or exploding snap long ago but Bella's nitpicking of Rabastan's essay had made him more stressed than ever, and Rabastan had refused any of Andromeda's attempts to distract him. Slowly the common room had begun to empty, Bellatrix had reappeared sometime ago and was now laying on a sofa by the boy's dormitories chatting animatedly with Iris and Marcella Blishwick. Andromeda had considered joining them but Marcella was not Andromeda's favourite person and instead she chose to continue plugging away at her essay.

Narcissa had left half an hour ago with both Cinnia and Liboria after Marriner Crabbe had consumed a little too much firewhiskey and loudly announced to the entire common room his undying love for Narcissa. The embarrassment of Crabbe's public confession and the crude jokes that then followed from the Slytherin princes had been far too much for Narcissa to handle – Andromeda had personally found the whole thing hilarious but Narcissa was far more proud and proper than herself.

"_You might belong in Gryffindor _

_Where dwell the jerks of earth_

_Their stupidity and idiocy _

_Is evident at birth_

_You might belong in Hufflepuff_

_But you're best to hope not_

_They're losers and they're ugly_

_And their yellow robes look like snot_

_Or you could be a Ravenclaw _

_If you're a wise arse fool_

_That group of slimy slugs _

_Reckon they own the school _

_Or if you're lucky Slytherin_

_Where it's never a bore_

_They're smart, good looking and witty_

_The best house for sure!"_

Rodolphus Lestrange and what was left of his gang burst into a fit of drunken laughter as they recited their revised version of the sorting hat song. Andromeda was quite impressed they'd even managed to come up with rhyming words given how drunk the lot of them were. Some of the students who still remained in the common room had offered a round of applause, and Lestrange, Selwyn, Goyle and Crabbe stood on large green sofa in front of the main fireplace bowing emphatically. While Lestrange and his cronies were painful and arrogant most of the time, Andromeda had to admit that they did often provide for some great entertainment.

"I give up" announced Rabastan as he closed his textbook and stuffed it in his book bag, "I'm far too tired to deal with anymore of it at this point."

"Oh thank Salazar! I thought you'd never stop" laughed Andromeda as she too packed away her things, she'd managed to get at least half of her essay completed, though she was sure it was not to the standard Rabastan was aiming for.

Rabastan yawned as he stared over toward his older brother who seemed to have enchanted two sofa cushions to attack Crabbe; Lestrange, Selwyn and Goyle were dying of laughter as Crabbe tried to shield himself with an abandoned textbook.

"What a pack of drunken morons" smirked Rabastan, "Sometimes I can barely believe we're related."

"I feel that way about my sisters too sometimes", smiled Andromeda,

"You three are way more alike than Rod and I", insisted Rabastan

Andromeda raised her eyes sceptically in response.

"No seriously. I mean you all look a lot alike, you all have the same nose and mouth and facial expressions. And you're all stubborn and a little selfish in your own ways and naturally smart at school. All three of you aren't bad at sports either, even Cissy when she wants to be. The main difference between you three is your hair."

Andromeda reflected for a moment, technically she should be angry at Rabastan for calling her selfish and stubborn but to be fair she really couldn't disagree with that. For the most part everything he had observed was true, there were more differences between them of course; Cissy's love for anything gossipy or girly and Andromeda and Bella's strong dislike for both; Andie's love for reading and Cissy and Bella's total disinterest at the thought; Bella's love of classical music and Cissy and Andie's complete confusion as to why – However, the most obvious difference between the three was undoubtedly their hair. Bella had long wavy dark brown almost black hair which always seemed to fall elegantly down her back with little effort on her part, Narcissa was in complete contrast to her eldest sister with long straight fair hair which was always tended and styled to complete perfection, and then Andromeda as the middle sister sported long wavy honey brown hair – a definite medium between her two sisters.

"I guess you're kind of right" remarked Andromeda, "You and Rod are similar too though, you both have dark hair, you both have very faint French accents, and you both laugh the same."

Rabastan smirked, "I ought to hope I'm not too similar though. He's a total jerk."

"Well that would be the obvious difference" replied Andromeda with a smile, she enjoyed Rabastan's company the most at times like this, when it was late at night and he was less guarded and stressed.

The pair sat in silence for a few moments before Rabastan sighed loudly, "Do you ever wonder what the future will be like?"

"What do you mean?" laughed Andromeda, slightly taken back by his question, "Like whether there will be wizards on Mars or something?"

Rabastan snorted, "No, I mean with us."

"Us?" Andromeda raised her gaze to meet Rabastan's.

"Not us, us" stammered Rabastan, clearly embarrassed, "I mean the future when we all finish school. Like take Rod for example, who'd want to hire, or worse, marry a git like that? I don't think even Father would want to risk using his connections to secure him a job, he'd probably turn up drunk or something and end up embarrassing the whole family."

Andromeda laughed, she could most definitely imagine Rodolphus doing something like that.

"I honestly haven't given it much thought" replied Andromeda, which was definitely true; she hadn't even considered what would happen to Bella when she finished her schooling which was now less than a year away, "I wonder what Mother and Father will do with Bella?" thought Andromeda aloud.

"Marry her off to some poor soul" laughed Rabastan, "or maybe they'll let her go study at St Mungo's or something, you know our lot are slowly coming round to the idea of girls having jobs too."

Andromeda smiled, being a pureblood woman usually just meant a lifetime of being a wife and mother; however there had been some recognition in recent years at the thought of pureblood women being teachers or healers as well - both professions were respectable enough without being perceived as masculine jobs. Personally, Andromeda couldn't think of anything worse than a lifetime of teaching snotty little brats or tending to people's awful injuries but then again living a life like her mother's didn't appeal to her much either.

"Can't say I see Bella as a healer though" commented Rabastan, "she definitely doesn't have the compassion required for that job. And as for a teacher, that requires a lot of patience - which she definitely does not have."

Andromeda laughed, "You have to be compassionate and patient to be a wife and mother as well, so either way she's screwed."

Rabastan snorted as he reached for the last liquorice wand broke it in two and gave Andromeda the other half, "I don't know if my own mother really embodies either of those characteristics," he paused before continuing, "Whatever happens though you have to promise me we'll stay friends. Even if you do wind up married to some arrogant toad head like Goyle or Selwyn or something."

"Of course we'll stay friends" replied Andromeda indignantly, "Why ever would we not?"

Rabastan shrugged "I don't know. But you're one of the few I can stand. I definitely don't want to be stuck with a bunch of morons like that lot." Rabastan motioned toward the Slytherin Princes who seemed to be planning something sinister as they were suspiciously whispering amongst themselves.

Andromeda smirked, "I could never do that to you. That would be beyond cruel."

Rabastan, seemingly satisfied with Andromeda's answer, bit into his liquorice and leant back against the stone wall. Andromeda too finished her liquorice and rearranged herself so that she was now laying parallel to the fireplace, her cushion from before propped underneath her neck; if it wasn't so warm and cosy she'd have considered retiring to bed but while the Slytherin common room was comfortable and inviting the dormitories were built underneath the lake, and were thus quite dark which was not helped by the low ceilings. While each dorm had its own permanently lit fireplace which ensured the room stayed warm, the low ceilings meant that there was little room for much else than beds, desks and wardrobes in each room; there were definitely no windows and there was not space to display keepsakes or hang many posters or photographs.

"Are you kidding me Lestrange?!"

Bella's loud roar interrupted Andromeda's sleepy thoughts and she casually opened one eye to observe what had happened. It seemed Rodolphus had grown bored with having the jinxed sofa cushions attack Crabbe and had set them upon Bella instead. Andromeda couldn't help but smile as she watched Bellatrix get whacked square in the face by one of Rodolphus' rogue cushions – Lestrange, Goyle, Selwyn and Crabbe were all rolling on the floor in hysterics, both the bottles of rum and the whisky lay empty by the main fireplace.

"Oh come on Bella!" teased Rodolphus through his fits of laughter, "You didn't think I would let you get away with the bubotuber puss did you?"

Most of the other students who remained were watching, not even attempting to hide their amusement. The only ones who seemed to be ignoring Rodolphus' stunt was Rabastan who was quietly snoring, and Lucius and Octavia, both the Head Boy and Head Girl of Slytherin who appeared to be intently engaged on the other side of the room in a very serious game of Wizard's Chess. It wasn't uncommon for Lucius to ignore the antics of the Slytherin Prince's, as whilst he flaunted his position of authority in front of teachers, he ultimately knew that anything he could impose on Rodolphus and his gang was greatly disproportionate to what they could do to him when a teacher wasn't looking. Octavia was as equally as hopeless as Lucius, perhaps even more so, since all she ever did was follow Lucius around, giggle at his pathetic jokes and copy anything and everything he did; Andromeda was quite sure she had never met anyone with a less independent thought than Octavia Meliflua, well except of course for her twin, Hersilia.

_"Oicca!"_

Bellatrix had somehow managed to retrieve her wand from her pocket and aim it toward one of the cushions; both Marcella and Iris had attempted to take out the other cushion but it had turned on them and the two girls were now trying to bat it away with their own wands.

Bella's spell hit the cushion and it exploded with a loud "POP"; feathers falling everywhere. Rabastan eyes flashed open and he groggily turned toward Andromeda, "What was that?"

Andromeda ignored him and instead watched as Bella aimed her next spell toward Rodolphus; _"Langlock!"_

Rodolphus drunkenly dodged the jinx and reached for his own wand, "Oh calm down Bella, it was just a bit of fun. _"Rictusempra!"_

The loud cries from both Bellatrix and Rodolphus had caught Lucius and Octavia's full attention, and whilst as Head Boy and Girl they certainly had the power to intervene neither seemed too sure of what to do; in fact Lucius seemed almost amused by the whole situation.

Bellatrix managed to successfully deflect Rodolphus' jinx, and both Andromeda and Rabastan ducked as it hit the wall above them instead, causing it to shake.

Two first year boys who had been sitting in the area between Bella and Rodolphus quickly fled to their dormitories, whilst some fourth years who had retired to their dorms almost an hour ago had gathered by the entry way to the boys dormitories to watch, all of them were in their pyjamas and had clearly been roused from their sleep by the noise.

_"Densaugeo!"_

Rodolphus once again, despite his drunken state managed to dodge Bella's curse and he slurred his own back, missing Bella's left shoulder by the slightest of margins.

"Hey! The pair of you cut it out!"

Lucius' half-hearted attempt to gain Bella and Rodolphus' attention failed dismally and Lucius and Octavia, knowing what Rodolphus and Bellatrix were like, knew there was little point attempting to interfere any further. Though recognising the growing safety risk that Rodolphus and Bellatrix were posing not only to each other but the other innocent students around, Lucius and Octavia quickly slipped out of the common room, no doubt looking to locate Slughorn who at such a late hour was likely to be fast asleep.

_"Stupefy!" _boomed Bellatrix, who at being missed by mere centimetres was now more incensed than ever.

Rodolphus held up one of the lounge chair cushions, using it as a shield. The jinx hit the cushion instead, causing it to explode just like the other had done, with feathers once more falling everywhere. Some of the students were laughing and cheering either Bella or Rodolphus on, but neither party seemed to be paying much attention to anything else but each other. Bella leapt forward, her wand arm outstretched, Rodolphus had been momentarily disorientated due to the explosion of the cushion and she had him cornered now, she raised her wand; a huge smirk etched upon her face, "_Petrific..."_

_"Incacerous!"_

Rodolphus' rope tying jinx hit Bellatrix square in the chest, causing her to fall back with a loud thud. Andromeda, along with all the other students watched as ropes appeared out of nowhere binding Bella's legs and arm to her body. Rodolphus who seemed beyond pleased with himself drunkenly stumbled over to where Bella was hopelessly thrashing about and cursing his name.

"You Idiot! Let me go!"

Many of the students were laughing, but none more so than Rodolphus' loyal followers; Selwyn, Crabbe and Goyle had parked themself on the sofa behind where Bella lay and were leaning over the back of it wiping tears from their eyes as they howled.

"Well well well" slurred Rodolphus as he leant down above Bella's head, "What have we here?"

Andromeda felt she should probably intervene and do something to help her sister, but there was little she could really do without causing more trouble. Besides Bella could usually handle herself against Rodolphus, Andromeda was confident Bellatrix could work something out on her own - and besides like all the other students who had gathered to watch, Andromeda was rather intrigued as to how Bellatrix would possibly weasel her way out of this one.

"Let me go, Lestrange!" yelled Bella once more as Rodolphus circled around her, twisting his wand between his fingers.

"I have Bellatrix Black totally and completely at my mercy" he commented loudly, well aware by now that a crowd was watching, "whatever should I do?"

Rodolphus' tone was playful and yet sinister. Rabastan turned to Andromeda, "Perhaps we should step in before he does something totally stupid? He has been drinking after all..."

But before Andromeda could answer, Rodolphus jumped to face his audience, "I know!" turning back toward Bellatrix who was glaring intently at him with all the disgust and anger she could muster, Rodolphus smiled sweetly, "I'll only let you go if you kiss me."

Whatever Bellatrix had expected Rodolphus to say it had not been that and she seemed genuinely shocked and lost for words as he leant down so that their faces were only inches apart, "What do you say Bella? Your freedom for a kiss?"

Selwyn, Crabbe and Goyle leaned even further over the couch, huge drunken smiles adorning their faces.

"Pucker up Bella!" teased Selwyn as he dangled her wand he had retrieved above her.

Many of the students who had gathered, including Rabastan and Andromeda had moved slightly closer to where Bellatrix lay with Rodolphus leaning over her; all were entranced and intrigued.

Bellatrix seemed to have recovered from her shock and had begun thrashing about and screaming more loudly and violently than before. Rodolphus seemingly undeterred, leant right down; securing one hand on the top of her head and the other on her shoulder to stop her from wriggling. He then turned to his cronies, a big drunken moronic smile etched upon his face, and announced loudly to everyone watching, "On the count of three...One Two Three!"

Bella screams and protest became instantly muffled as Rodolphus planted a big fat wet smooch on Bella's lips. It seemed to last for what felt like minutes, but it was truly only seconds long...

"Lestrange! Black! What in Merlin's name!?"

It seemed Slughorn had been too difficult to awake, and instead Lucius and Octavia had returned with McGonagall. Professor McGonagall had been unsure of what she would encounter in the Slytherin dungeon after the hurried explanation Octavia and Lucius had offered when they had ran into her on night duty by the Great Hall; maybe an injured student, a demolished common room, but certainly she had never expected to find Bellatrix Black and Rodolphus Lestrange kissing in front of a crowd of students on the common room floor.

Selwyn, who was not quite as drunk as he had made himself out to be, quickly, and without being spotted by McGonagall, flicked his wand, releasing Bella from the ropes and chucked her wand on the floor beside her – the last thing he needed was to have another detention on his record.

Bellatrix quickly sat up, turning to face McGonagall, who remained totally bewildered. Lucius and Octavia too seemed completely lost for words. The awkward silence lasted for only another moment more, while McGonagall quickly regained her composure.

"I want everyone to return to their dormitories immediately!" McGonagall motioned toward what she could only assume were the Slytherin dormitories, since this was her first time in this part of the castle, "Everyone, except you two!"

McGonagall's finger and gaze lay solely on Bellatrix and Rodolphus who both remained on the floor.

"Professor if I could suggest..."

"You too Malfoy", interjected McGonagall, "I can take it from here."

Malfoy, looking deeply irritated as he followed Octavia and the rest of the small crowd that had gathered past Bella and Rodolphus on the floor and toward the dormitories.

Andromeda and Rabastan quietly fetched the last of their belongings, and bid each other a quick farewell. Andromeda was the last of her housemates to make her way back toward the dormitories and she watched as McGonagall motioned for both Bella and Rodolphus to follow her out of the dungeons – Andromeda shuddered to think how her mother and father would possibly react once they received another letter concerning Bellatrix only a day since the last.


	6. Chapter 6

"He kissed her!?"

Narcissa could barely believe her ears as she stared wide eyed at her sister, "Rodolphus Lestrange kissed_ our_ sister, Bellatrix Black?"

"To be fair he was quite drunk" joked Rabastan, as he reached across the Slytherin table to fetch himself a breakfast pastry.

Andromeda ignored Rabastan and nodded emphatically as she took in another mouthful of cereal.

Narcissa seemed completely lost for words and she leant back from the table, as if she taking a moment to digest it all.

"The whole thing was so bizarre, he'd hit her with the tied rope jinx so she was squirming about and then McGonagall walked in right as he was kissing her..."

"McGonagall!?"

A whole new element of disbelief had been added to the story and Narcissa looked between both Rabastan and Andromeda for clarification, "What was McGonagall doing in the _Slytherin_ Common room?"

"Lucius and Octavia went to fetch her."

Such a response did not seem satisfy Narcissa, and Rabastan sighed, took a deep breath and slowly explained to Narcissa in sequence and great detail, everything that he and Andromeda had witnessed the night before. When he was done, Narcissa had still not touched a single item on her plate and was sitting, mouth agape staring unblinkingly between the two.

"I cannot believe I missed all that!" Narcissa muttered to herself more so than to anyone, "Of all the nights to go to bed early!"

It was still rather early – at least for a Sunday morning, but the Great Hall was slowly beginning to fill. The Slytherin table, which was usually half empty for Sunday breakfast was uncharacteristically full – no one need guess why. Andromeda could only suppose that by lunch time everyone in the entire school will have heard some kind of exaggerated version detailing what had occurred last night. Scanning the table, Andromeda spotted Goyle and Selwyn animatedly explaining and seemingly re-enacting the scene that Benedict had missed last night; only a few seats along sat Crabbe who was clearly enjoying the attention as he too chatted feverishly with Evan Rosier, Heloise Greengrass and Clothilda Smith. However, there were two notable absences from the table – Rodolphus and Bellatrix, neither had returned to their dorms after McGonagall had summoned for the pair of them to follow her. According to Iris though, Bella's belongings remained in her dorm so she hadn't been expelled – well yet anyway.

Cinnia and Liboria had arrived at the table, and Narcissa was now busily filling them in on everything she had just heard. Both girls were as gossipy as Narcissa, and they sat, their stares unwavering as Narcissa relished the limelight, being careful not to omit a single detail.

"So what do you reckon will happen to the pair of them this time?" said Rabastan as he stuffed the last bite of his pastry in his mouth, "I know both my mother and father will be livid when they hear."

"I don't know" admitted Andromeda. Bellatrix was no stranger when it came to getting in trouble at school; she was now into her seventh and final year of schooling and had somehow managed to amass a total of 64 detentions throughout that time – a figure both her parents were far less than impressed with. Andromeda's meagre 7 and Narcissa's 2 seemed angelic in comparison to their older sister; in fact Andromeda was quite positive her mother had barely blinked an eye when she'd received detention last year for failing to complete her transfiguration paper by the due date. By the same accord Rodolphus was not much better than Bella, his constant disregard for school rules had left him serving detention at least once a week for the past six years – Rabastan though had never accrued a single detention, his record was more stunning than Narcissa's. Never before though, had Rodolphus and Bellatrix been caught duelling in the common room, and neither had ever been caught doing something so serious only a day after an equally serious offence; the punishment this time was likely to far outweigh anything either of them had received before.

"And then he kissed her, right as McGonagall walked in!" Narcissa announced the last part of her story so dramatically that it seemed almost rehearsed.

"I always thought he liked her" commented Cinnia as she reached for the cinnamon tea, pouring herself a large mug full.

"Liked her!?" questioned Narcissa, clearly shocked, "What part of the story did you miss!? He hit her with a rope tying jinx and then kissed her in front of everyone to completely humiliate her..."

"Oh come on Cissy" replied Cinnia as she scanned the breakfast options, "don't you remember when he got so angry with Josiah Freeman last year after he overheard him telling Edgar Bones that he thought Bellatrix was the best looking girl in the school?"

This was news to both Rabastan and Andromeda who immediately looked up from their plates. Narcissa though rolled her eyes, "Of course he got angry. Josiah Freeman is a mudblood. He shouldn't even be allowed to blink in Bella's direction, or any of our directions for that matter, let alone talk about how pretty he thought she was."

Cinnia shrugged, "I'm just repeating the facts."

"There is no way Rod likes Bella" insisted Rabastan, "Rod's hated her guts ever since they were toddlers."

Both Narcissa and Andromeda murmured in agreement, however Cinnia raised her eye sceptically, "All I'm saying is that Rodolphus could easily have any girl in the school that he wanted but yet the only girl who he seems to pay an ounce of attention to is Bellatrix."

Rabastan opened his mouth to retort but before he could, Liboria had cut in, her hand pointed to the doorway, "Is that Rodolphus over there?"

Sure enough Rodolphus had slunk almost undetected into the Great Hall and was now sitting near the entrance by Benedict's side; his princes glued to his every word as he chatted quietly with them.

"I wonder where Bella is then?" stated Narcissa aloud, however she needed not have wondered much longer, as within mere moments Bellatrix too had appeared in the entrance way.

Whilst Rodolphus' reappearance had managed to go undetected, Bella's had not and a momentary hush swept through the hall as at least half the students turned to watch as Bellatrix Black slowly and haughtily made her way to the Slytherin table, taking the spare seat beside Rabastan. As soon as she sat down the hush erupted once more into a dull roar and students eagerly chatted among themselves, many searching the room for any sign of Rodolphus as well.

"Where have you been?" Narcissa could barely contain herself as she leant forward eager to know every single detail that there was possibly to know.

Bella didn't even bother looking up as she grabbed herself a bowl, "Hospital wing. Slughorn and McGonagall sent us both there as a precaution."

"A precaution?"

"In case we'd been injured from any of the jinxes" replied Bella her tone clearly conveyed her boredom as she helped herself to some pumpkin spiced porridge.

"So what happened then?" continued Narcissa, clearly not put off by her sister's tone, "Did you get another detention, an official warning? What?"

Bellatrix yawned as she slowly raised her gaze to meet that of her youngest sister's, "20 points deducted, a 5 foot essay on the dangers of underage duelling, three detentions, an urgent owl home, and an official warning that the next time will be an official warning."

Andromeda and Rabastan both smiled, clearly amused, however before either could comment, Bella spoke once more.

"Oh! And Rodolphus also got banned from the next three Quidditch matches, but given Slughorn is so competitive and such a pushover I doubt that will last."

Bella took a sip of her tea and munched away at her breakfast, aware but not at all bothered that many of the students in the hall were pointing at and whispering about her.

"That would kill Rod though" commented Rabastan, "Quiddicth is pretty much the only thing at school that he actually enjoys or does any good at."

Andromeda opened her mouth to agree, however she was interrupted by her youngest sister who was staring and pointing to the ceiling; the owl post had arrived.

Sunday post was usually not that busy, perhaps a few parcels here and there but most students who received regular packages from home either got them during the week, perhaps the odd Saturday, but definitely not on Sunday. A few stray owls carrying letters could be seen and a couple of others appeared with what Andromeda assumed to be tins of home baked sweets, however it was the two largest of the owls that were attracting the most attention. Her father's beloved barn owl Apollo was slowly making his way toward the Slytherin table, clasped in his beak was that unmistakable red envelop of a Howler. Another howler was also clearly visible in the beak on a huge eastern screech owl, which Andromeda recognised as having delivered Rabastan his mail in the past.

The whole room, including the staff seemed to watch as the two letters dropped simultaneously; one landing in front of Bellatrix, the other in front of Rodolphus. Bellatrix, clearly unfazed picked up the envelop which had her name etched in barely dried ink of the front; she yawned as she slowly opened it – she knew from much experience that ignoring a howler was far more trouble than it was worth. Rodolphus it seemed, had opened his letter as well, and as if on cue the whole room erupted into an explosion of shrieks and profanities.

_"BELLATRIX CASSIOPEIA BLACK! I HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE..."_

_"DUELLING IN THE ENTRANCE HALL AND THE COMMON ROOM!? MARK MY WORDS BOY IF YOU DARE..."_

_"YOU HAVE BESMIRCHED THE NAME OF BLACK! I SWEAR TO SALAZAR THAT IF ..."_

_"I AM DISGUSTED, APPALLED, ASHAMED...!"_

It was impossible to make out exactly what either her mother, or Monsieur Lestrange were saying as the shrieks, roars and screeches seemed only to cancel out one another. Rodolphus seemed to find the whole situation utterly hilarious, and was struggling to keep a straight face as his father's voice boomed from the howler. Bella though, sat eating her breakfast as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening; this seemed only to incense the howler more – Druella's screeches were now so high pitched that Andromeda wouldn't be surprised if the breakfast glasses cracked.

Some students, like Narcissa and her friends, had placed their hands over their ears to stop their ear drums from splitting. Suddenly Rodolphus' howler disintegrated into a pile of ash, and all that could now be heard was the hysterical shrieks of Druella Rosier Black – as per usual she'd gotten to have the last word.

_"... AND THEN AS IF THAT WASN'T ENOUGH I RECEIVE AN URGENT OWL AT 4 AM TELLING ME THAT BOTH YOU AND MASTER LESTRANGE WERE CAUGHT ON THE COMMON ROOM FLOOR, APPARENTLY AT IT AGAIN! I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO MAD IN ALL MY LIFE! YOU HAD BETTER GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER BEFORE CHRISTMAS YOUNG LADY OR THERE IS NO WAY YOUR FATHER AND I ARE ALLOWING YOU TO RETURN TO THAT SCHOOL!"_

Druella Black gave one last shriek of disgust before the howler erupted into a small fire, turning into ash. The silence was deafening, and if there had been any students who'd not known what had unfolded last night they certainly did now – or at least they knew Bella and Rodolphus had been "at it again" on the common room floor... Andromeda couldn't help but smile to herself, the regrettable choice of her mother's words setting in. There was no way Bella was ever going to live this down


	7. Chapter 7

Andromeda hated Wednesdays; it was undoubtedly the worst day of her week, or at least it had been since the school year had re-commenced just over a month ago. You knew it wasn't going to be a good day if it started with a back to back class of History of Magic and ended with double serving of potions. Even her morning breaks were a write off on Wednesday's as she had to spend them traipsing down to the greenhouses, ready for a double session of herbology. In fact the only bearable part of Wednesdays was lunch, because her evenings were even consumed with Slughorn's weekly slug club meetings. Andromeda heaved a huge sigh as she and her classmates slowly made their way from classroom 72 on the third floor and toward the herbology greenhouses on the grounds on the opposite side of the castle. Despite having slept through a majority of Professor Binns' lecture, Andromeda felt utterly and completely drained, how she was going to make it through herbology without nodding off was anyone's guess.

"I am so tired!" moaned Jeroma, who seemed to echo Andromeda's own sentiments, "I'm considering even faking an injury just so I can to the hospital wing and sleep."

Andromeda, Rabastan and Bibiana both laughed, Jeroma's whining, though often dramatic, could be quite entertaining.

"I thought I was going to die at one point there" continued Jeroma, as the party began to descend the stairs, "I swear that class gets more unbearable every week."

Even Rabastan, who usually made at least some attempt to listen in history of magic, nodded his head in agreement at Jeroma's words.

The castle halls and staircases were packed full of students, all lingering and chatting during their morning break. Whilst it had been a good few days since the howler incident, both Rodolphus and Bellatrix were still the talk of the school, and each time Andromeda descended another flight of stairs she would catch students from the other houses glancing her way, their stares would only last for a moment or so until they caught sight of the colour of her hair, and then, quickly realising she was not the oldest Black sister they would continue gossiping amongst themselves.

Bibiana, who'd long forgotten the Hogsmeade incident by now, offered Andromeda a small smile, "They'll all stop talking about it soon enough. Something else more scandalous will happen and then Rodolphus and Bellatrix will be old news."

Andromeda just nodded and continued through the mass of students who had taken up residence by the main staircase; she didn't mind much at all that the whole school was talking nonsense about Bella or Rodolphus, it simply annoyed her that due to her last name and her striking physical resemblance to her elder sister, she had somehow became a part of the whole thing as well. At first it had simply been comical, but now it was just downright annoying.

"Have you heard the latest rumour?" questioned Rabastan to no one in particular.

Bibiana and Andromeda both shook their heads, however Jeroma who was loving the entertainment and gossip that the scandal had provided, quickly jumped in.

"The last thing I heard was that Bellatrix has been spiking Rodolphus' food with love potion and that the two of them have been making out in broom cupboards all across the castle for weeks", her amusement at such a thought was evident as she continued on "and apparently they were both half naked when McGonagall busted them, caught on the common room floor."

Jeroma sneered her last line – a clear mockery of the words Druella Black had shrieked in her howler only days before. The phrase _"caught on the common room floor" _had suddenly become a part of the Hogwart's student's popular vernacular. The phrasehad taken on a life of its own; students from every house and year group had begun using it as a way to express any kind of shameful situation – _"It was so embarrassing; it was like being caught on the common room floor!"_ Andromeda was sure she had even heard Professor Slughorn use it yesterday in potions when he'd scolded Gryffindor prefect Marlene McKinnon for her pitiful attempt at concocting strengthening solution.

Andromeda wouldn't ever have imagined in her wildest dreams that the proud and proper Druella Black would be the inspiration and trendsetter for some kind of popular social phenomenon, and yet somehow that was exactly what had happened. It was this concept alone that Andromeda found the most entertaining part of the whole situation – her interest in the exaggerated rumours and versions surrounding the Saturday night events had long wavered, and instead she found great enjoyment at the thought of her mother somehow finding out that her howler was now the mockery of the entire school.

"That's ridiculous" interjected Bibiana, "Bellatrix bewitching Rodolphus with love potion? That's got to be one of the stupidest things I have ever heard."

"Oh I have something far stupider than that!" stated Rabastan with great enthusiasm.

"Oh?" Jeroma had spun on her heel, her eyes fixated upon Rabastan "What new stories do you have?"

Rabastan smirked and rolled his eyes at Jeroma's enthusiasm; the party had now made their way outside and were only a hundred yards or so from greenhouse four.

"Well this morning at breakfast I overheard that Hufflepuff girl Lucretia Leach telling Amos Diggory and Elsa Bobbin that the _real story" _his sarcasm was clearly evident, "is that Bellatrix and Rodolphus are now engaged and planning a wand-flick wedding because Bella is expecting twins."

Andromeda, Bibiana and Jeroma all burst into a fit of laughter.

"Okay" stated Jeroma a wide grin on her face, "that definitely beats anything else I've heard – how utterly unbelievable, could you possibly imagine that?"

"Oh Salazar" sighed Andromeda, barely suppressing her laughter, "I can only imagine what mother would say if she knew a rumour like that was circulating round the school."

"I can't believe people would even think something that ridiculous was true" stated Bibiana, her laughter was now gone and instead she was intently glaring at a bunch of Ravenclaws nearby who were loudly making their way toward greenhouse four.

"Well I mean it was Lucretia Leach after all" stated Rabastan, as if that alone provided a more than adequate explanation, "And Diggory might be Hufflepuff's Head Boy but that doesn't mean he isn't a gullible idiot."

"Elsa Bobbin is about as dim as they come as well" interjected Jeroma, "I'm quite positive she thought I was serious when I told her that I feed my cat muggle bones."

Rabastan, Andromeda and Bibiana all snorted with laugher at Jeroma's comment; Elsa Bobbin was definitely not the sharpest or brightest of the lot.

"Come on! Hurry up!"

Professor Sprout had emerged in the doorway of Greenhouse Four and was irritably tapping her watch, they were only a minute or two late, but Professor Sprout was fickle when it came to running on schedule.

Andromeda and her friends quickly slipped into the greenhouse behind the rowdy group of Ravenclaws and found a seat on the ground amongst the other students.

"Okay, now that _everyone_ is here" stated Professor Sprout as she closed the greenhouse door with a loud thud "we can finally begin."

Professor Sprout was a short stout woman and Head of the Herbology Department. She'd only been a teacher at Hogwarts for the past two years but you'd barely have known she was new given her confident teaching manner, and how popular she was amongst the staff and students.

Professor sprout crossed the room so that she was now standing beside a large plant that resembled a rose bush.

"Today you will be split into pairs; you will all be working on this task for the remainder of term so it is important that you pay very close attention to what I tell you today. In preparation for your OWLS you will be planting and tending to fanged geranium", Professor Sprout motioned to the plant next to her that stood almost four foot high, "yours will not grow as large as this in such a short time, but I am hoping that come Christmas, should you have followed my instructions, yours will be at least as third as big."

Most of the class was staring at the fanged geranium with looks of slight confusion on their faces; the plant seemed to be nothing more than a bush of flowers; whatever was so special about it?

"For today's class I will be handing out worksheets. I want you to complete these worksheets in the pairs I assign you to. Once your pair has completed your worksheet then come and see me and I will give you your fanged geranium seedlings so that you may plant them together. If you do not finish your worksheet by the end of today's class then you can consider it homework, alongside a two foot paper on the healing properties of geranium fanged seedlings. Does everyone understand this?"

There was a muffled murmur of acknowledgment amongst the students, which seemed to satisfy Professor Sprout, who then crossed the room so that she now stood in front of all the students.

"Okay brilliant. Now let's see here..." Professor Sprout flicked her wand and a large pile of worksheets immediately appeared upon a bench nearby, another flick of her wand and a piece of parchment covered in dirt and grime suddenly appeared in her wand free hand, "Ah okay, now when I call the pairs will you please move quickly, I want to make this whole process as efficient and painless as possible."

Professor Sprout held the grimy piece of parchment close to her face, squinting her eyes as she recited names from the roll, "Rosier, you're with Miss Goyle", Bibiana growled underneath her breath as she stood to follow her ex-boyfriend Evan Rosier to the nearby bench, "Carrow you're with Carrow, Parkinson with Miss Yaxley, Miss Hawthorne with Miss Boot, Henry and Shaw, MacDougal with Davis, Miss Kerridge with Mr Latchingdon, Lament with Fincher, Lestrange with Birch, Mr Garland with Miss Gosforth" Professor Sprout paused for a moment to catch her breath, "which then leaves Miss Farley with Miss Codnor, and Tonks with Black."

Andromeda paused for a moment, unsure whether she had heard Professor Sprout correctly – Tonks with Black? She'd never even really noticed Ted Tonks in her herbology class before and yet now she was to be paired with him for the remainder of term, what were the odds of that happening?

"Come on, Come on!" insisted Professor Sprout as she ushered Andromeda and the other couple of remaining students from the floor, "We haven't got all day!"

Andromeda exhaled loudly as she picked herself up off the ground; dragging her book bag with her, she slowly made her way toward Ted Tonks who seemed to already have secured them a bench and a worksheet.

"Hi Andromeda" remarked Ted, a huge smile on his face, "it seems we just can't stay away from one another."

Andromeda didn't even bother replying to his feeble attempt at humour and instead dumped her textbook on the desk and retrieved her quill – the same quill Ted had returned only days before, "So what precisely are we meant to be doing?" she wondered aloud, as she scanned the worksheet in front of her.

Ted smiled widely as he pointed to the first question, "the answer is blue."

"Huh?" asked Andromeda, as she glanced between the worksheet and Tonks.

"What colour does the fanged geranium seed become once planted? It says right here, blue."

Ted was pointing to his already opened textbook and Andromeda eyed him suspiciously before checking the answer herself and noting it down.

"I think the second answer is 3 weeks and the third is definitely salt."

Ted was scanning his textbook and hurriedly flipping from page to page, "yep, see here" he shoved the textbook toward Andromeda, "It takes five weeks for a fanged geranium seed to become properly implanted in soil and then a further three weeks for it to begin sprouting and developing a solid stem."

Andromeda examined the text to which Ted was pointing at and then focussed her attention closely at him "How in Salazar's name do you know all this already? Do you read herbology textbooks for fun or something?"

Ted smiled sheepishly, "Well yeah... kinda."

Andromeda dropped her pen and narrowed her eyes, staring at Ted with even greater suspicion and scepticism than before, "You read herbology textbooks for fun?"

Ted, clearly enjoying the close attention Andromeda was giving him smiled widely, "I like herbology. Besides before Hogwarts I was raised in a non-magical family so reading about anything magical tends to fascinate me."

Ted didn't wait for Andromeda to respond and instead returned his attention back to the worksheet, "Now if we look at the graph on page 338 that should be able to help us answer question 4."

Andromeda remained silent. Ted had raised an interesting point, something she had never cared to consider before, _what must it be like to come to Hogwarts when you've only had a muggle upbringing? Everything would be so foreign; the foods, the subjects, the other students, the places, the assignments... _Being raised a Black she had had very little exposure to the muggles, but still Andromeda knew enough to know that muggle societies were very different to her own world. She'd had a hard enough time settling into Hogwarts and she'd had her older sister with her, as well as children she had grown up with all her life. Ted though must have had it really tough, having to come to the school not knowing anyone, and then also not knowing a thing about the world he suddenly he had to assimilate into...

"Andromeda?"

Ted clicked his fingers in front of Andromeda's face hoping to capture her attention, "earth to Andromeda"

Andromeda quickly snapped out of her thoughts, "Sorry... I was just ..."

Ted laughed and interjected before Andromeda could finish her explanation, "you were just recovering from the shock revelation that I not only like herbology but also read textbooks for fun?"

Andromeda smiled widely, "Yes, precisely."

Ted beamed back, "Well it was to be expected of course, if you need more time or to lie down to recover further please say so, otherwise I think I have the answer to question 4."

Andromeda beamed back, "I'll be fine, but thanks for your concern. So then Mr Herbology genius what's the answer to question 4?"

Ted smiled back and then shoved the textbook toward Andromeda carefully explaining the graph. Andromeda however didn't listen to a word he was saying; instead all she could think about was why she felt so compelled to actually like Ted Tonks. He was a muggle born Ravenclaw – everything she should dislike and yet he was so nice and so funny and so smart. He wasn't cocky like Rabastan, or sensitive and stubborn like Bibiana or dramatic and shallow like Jeroma. No, instead he was just ... well... normal. Andromeda heaved a sigh, perhaps this semester with Ted Tonks and herbology wouldn't be all that bad after all.


End file.
